I'm Athena (real name's Anna), I live and work in St Petersburg, Russia. I'm a freelance technical translator (specialising in a number of fields, including IT), so reliable hardware and software are especially important for me

Up to yesterday, I was a model Windows user, although I've been using open source software whenever I could (OpenOffice is so much better than Microsoft Office, and Firefox is absolutely superior to IE). But finally, Windows 7 Starter on my Dell netbook really got to me, and I decided it was time to try Linux. I used to think Linux is just too complex for an ordinary user like me, and that it requires too much effort to be put into it, but then, I've heard the same things about Android, and I just loved Android when I got a smartphone running this OS. Yes, I spent quite some time adjusting settings and surfing Google Play for useful applications, but in the end, I got a really fine-tuned system on my smartphone. Just what I need, just for me.

So, I'm hoping to get to know Linux as well as I know Android now, and as for loving it, I already love the way my netbook works under Linux Mint Cinnamon At some point in the future, I may even replace Vista on my Dell laptop with Linux (I need some programs developed for Windows in my work, so I'll have to learn how to use emulators, and learn well before switching to Linux completely!).

I'm looking forward to spending some quality time here and learning lots of things about Linux (and Linux users, of whom I am one now ). Thank you for your attention and patience!:)

I'd argue that Win 7 Starter is even worse than Vista - the latter worked almost fine for 4,5 years, and is now working more or less fine after being reinstalled), while the former crashed after 1,5 years! The limitations of Win 7 Starter were also quite annoying (being unable to change desktop appearance without installing some third-party app... ugh!).

Athena wrote:At some point in the future, I may even replace Vista on my Dell laptop with Linux (I need some programs developed for Windows in my work, so I'll have to learn how to use emulators, and learn well before switching to Linux completely!).

One thing you can do now with your laptop is dual boot - installing Mint while keeping Windows on there. You'll then be given a choice each time you start up the computer.

Just be sure to defrag your hard drive well before shrinking the windows partition. It's best to use a defragger that will move all (movable) files to the end of the partition. And of course back up any important files just in case. The Linux portion of the disk can be relatively small, since Mint has no problem using the Windows partition as well. I digress though - there's lots more info on the forum here about dual-booting!

Anyway, that's what I did with my laptop three years ago, when I first installed Mint and I wasn't sure if I was gonna keep using it as my main OS. I still have Windows on there - just in case I might need it for something - but it's quite rare that I actually boot into it these days. Maybe once every six months...

Hi beansandjeans! Thanks for the tip, I think I'll try this! Which defragger would you recommend to use? I have Disk Defragmenter, of course, but if there are more efficient programs out there (and I'm sure there are), I'd prefer to use one of them!

I use MyDefrag (formerly known as JKdefrag). I can't say if it's the best, as I haven't used many defraggers, but it's way better than the one that comes with windows - gives you a lot more control! And it's free to download and use.

If you want to move all the files to the end of the disk, then once you install it you need to go into the program files and copy the "move to end of disk" (or some similar title) script from the "example scripts" folder to the regular "scripts" folder. You'll then have that option.

I would recommend moving all your files to the end of the disk and then shrinking the windows partition at the beginning if you plan to use Mint as your primary OS, as you get slightly better performance that way. Of course you can do the opposite if you want to keep the maximum power for your windows aps. It doesn't really make that big of a difference one way or the other, at least if you have a fairly new computer. The slower your computer is, the more difference it makes

beansandjeans wrote:It doesn't really make that big of a difference one way or the other, at least if you have a fairly new computer. The slower your computer is, the more difference it makes

My laptop is 4.5 years old (it's a Dell XPS with 2 Gb RAM, so the age manifests itself almost exclusively in slight overheating and short battery life), so any tip for increasing the productivity is much appreciated!:)

StormWolf wrote:I imagine a "Starter" wouldn't exactly be overly reliable... that's why I never use them

Alas, there wasn't much choice: I was looking for a Dell netbook with decent disk space and no less than 2 Gb RAM, and Starter seemed to be practically the only option available. It suited me, though - while it was functioning normally.

Athena wrote:I've already installed Wine, and hope to test it in the next few days

Well I hope the appz you need for work run ok for you but if not I'm sure if you post the names and any error codes that sum1 will be able to assist.[/quote]

The-Wizard wrote:love your choice of screen name,very apt for the work you do, [and i love all things Greek]

I use the name on several forums and websites, and when I first used it, I had in mind, most immediately, Lieutenant Athena from the old Battlestar Galactica; but the goddess Athena has always been one of my favourites!

I haven used M$ for some time now but my choice of de-frag was always auslogics

Athena wrote:My laptop is 4.5 years old (it's a Dell XPS with 2 Gb RAM, so the age manifests itself almost exclusively in slight overheating and short battery life), so any tip for increasing the productivity is much appreciated!:)

Well just 4.5 years old and 2gb of ram isn't too bad in my book. My main laptop is a Toshiba with about those same specs

Anyway, one thing to clarify in terms of partitioning for dual-booting, if you have say an 80gb hard drive and you reserve 20gb for Mint, then putting that section at the end of the hard drive will slow down Mint quite a bit more than putting it at the beginning would slow down Windows, simply because of the relative sizes involved. And like I said before, you don't really need to make the Mint section that big, since the Windows partition is readily available from Mint (but not vice versa), so you can use it to store larger files.

Also, in terms of WINE and your apps for work, I'm not sure how resource-intensive they are. For some applications the difference is negligable, but for those which require more CPU and memory it can definitely be noticably slower when you run Windows apps on Linux via WINE. So for those you might be better off finding a native Linux replacement if possible (like GIMP in place of Photoshop), or simply booting into Windows if you have to use something more specific that requires a lot of power. Just a thought...

beansandjeans wrote:Also, in terms of WINE and your apps for work, I'm not sure how resource-intensive they are. For some applications the difference is negligable, but for those which require more CPU and memory it can definitely be noticably slower when you run Windows apps on Linux via WINE. So for those you might be better off finding a native Linux replacement if possible (like GIMP in place of Photoshop), or simply booting into Windows if you have to use something more specific that requires a lot of power. Just a thought...

Unfortunately, it seems that I'll have to continue using Windows - the program I need for my work is SDL Trados, which is working only in Windows (from what I read on the Internet, it doesn't even work via Wine). It's a real shame!

On the other hand, I don't need Trados that often Seems like my best option is to keep Windows alongside Linux